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Liberals open to change on compensation plans for Mounties

Several Mounties said the proposed move to provincial workers’ compensation plans may cut costs but fear it would likely result in a patchwork of care across the country.

Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, said Thursday he’s willing to listen to debate as the bill on unionization of the RCMP is studied in committee and is open to amendments. (FRED CHARTRAND / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA—The Liberal government deflected criticism of an RCMP unionization bill that would see injured Mounties covered by provincial workers’ compensation plans, saying it reflects what RCMP members and contracting provinces wanted.

But Treasury Board President Scott Brison, who tabled the bill Wednesday, could not otherwise explain the rationale for a change that appears to have angered rank-and-file officers.

Speaking to the Star Thursday, Brison said he’s willing to listen to debate as the bill is studied in committee and is open to amendments.

It’s far from clear how Mounties will express their concern at any committee, as they currently have no national labour relations voice through which to channel their response, and under the RCMP’s own rules, they cannot publicly criticize the force or speak to media on the record without permission.

Several who spoke to the Star on condition of confidentiality said the move may cut costs but fear it would likely result in a patchwork of care across the country, determined by people with little understanding of their unique workplace.

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One source said no other federal workers, except soldiers in combat zones, go to work every day wearing a bullet-proof vest, and face occupational health and safety risks on a daily basis.

Under the Liberal bill, more than 17,000 Mounties will be permitted to form a national union but will not have the right to strike. Yet under the surprise one-line clause on workers compensation, the RCMP’s workplace health and safety coverage is set to change.

It is a big move that would drop Mounties from a dedicated federal health-care scheme that now covers workplace injuries. RCMP officers injured on the job are currently assessed by doctors, nurses and psychologists contracted specially by the RCMP, which can approve expedited care as needed. The former Conservative government, under fire over its treatment of veterans, toyed with the idea of eliminating the scheme but never proceeded.

“We’ve engaged and consulted RCMP members as well as other stakeholders, including other jurisdictions that engage RCMP members or employ RCMP services. And we feel this is a balanced . . . approach that is actually in consultation and discussion and co-leadership of the file with the minister of public safety minister (Ralph) Goodale,” said Brison.

Rob Creasser, a retired Mountie, is spokesman for a fledgling organization — the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada (largely sprung out of its B.C. provincial branch) — that is now trying to mount a certification bid. Creasser said in an interview his main concern with the bill to allow unionization is that it removes issues like disciplinary measures and deployment of resources from any future bargaining table.

“The number one issue is how critically under-resourced we are,” he said. “And now you’re not going to be able to talk about it at the bargaining table? Gimme a break.”

But Creasser said it is “a good start” that RCMP members will soon have union representation and said with proposed Liberal changes certification will come with a simple majority vote of 50 per cent plus one — a rollback of Conservative changes that might have made things harder. He said the MPPAC is aiming to sign up 8,500 members.

The court said the now-defunct staff relations program — in which Mounties elected on a provincial basis workplace representatives who worked with the RCMP’s executive committee but saw final decisions rest with the commissioner — did not have the bargaining power that is a right of workers under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of association.

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